NASA's and the European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has captured an unusual comet skimming past the blazing hot surface of the sun within a distance of 2.2 million miles on Feb. 18 to 21.
The celestial object dubbed Comet No. 2875 was interesting for two reasons. For one, it is a non-group comet, which means that it does not belong to any known family of comets.
Most of the comets that have been spotted by SOHO are part of the Kreutz family, all of which were part of a giant comet that broke off many centuries ago. SOHO seldom sees non-group comets, spotting only a few in a year.
Another reason why the comet is particularly interesting is because most of the comets that are seen by SOHO and get close to the sun do not survive the flyby. Also known as sungrazers, these comets often evaporate because of the sun's intense light. Comet No. 2875 was able to get within 2.2 million miles from the surface of the sun and remarkably survived the trip intact.
In 2012, scientists who were using the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) of the U.S. space agency, SOHO and the Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) tracked Kreutz comet C/2011 N3 as it disintegrated at a proximity of 100,000 km from the sun.
Karl Battams from the Naval Research Lab, however, said that the comet's close encounter with the sun could still lead to it dying soon.
"There's a half-decent chance that ground observers might be able to detect it in the coming weeks," Battams said. "But it's also possible that events during its trip around the sun will cause it to die fairly fast."
In a 15-second video created from SOHO images released by NASA, the comet can be seen approaching the sun from the right side of the frame, circling the giant ball of gas and exiting to the other side. The sun can likewise be seen bursting out coronal mass ejection (CME).
SOHO, a collaboration between NASA and ESA, was launched in 1995 with the primary mission of studying the sun but it has also been making significant comet discoveries. NASA has described SOHO as the leading comet finder of all time since it was launched, with the "daredevil" comet being comet discovery number 2,875.
Below is the video showing the comet approaching the sun and managing to survive.
